Snøhetta Completes Powerhouse Brattørkaia

2019-09-16

Located in Trondheim, Norway, Powerhouse Brattørkaia, the world’s northernmost energy-positive building, designed by Snøhetta challenges the traditional notions of construction and puts in place new standards for buildings that produce more energy than they consume.

The 18 000 m² office building, situated by the harbor “produces more than twice as much electricity as it consumes daily”, and is capable of supplying “renewable energy to itself, its neighboring buildings, electric buses, cars and boats through a local microgrid”. Actually, the roof and the upper part of the façade is cladded with almost 3 000 m² of solar panels, strategically placed to harvest as much solar energy as possible. Moreover, the building’s site ensures maximum exposure to the sun.

Energy-positive buildings are the buildings of the future. The mantra of the design industry should not be ‘form follows function’ but ‘form follows environment’. This means that the design thinking of today should focus on environmental considerations and reducing our footprint first, and have the design follow this premise. -- Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, Snøhetta Founder

The firm believes that it is crucial to create high quality spaces for people while reducing their environmental footprint, and that “as the world’s population and the severity of the climate crisis continue to grow, we are challenged to think how to build responsibly”. The Brattørkaia Powerhouse project is extremely energy efficient, through a series of technology, intelligent solutions and the design of the building itself.

 

Cite: Christele Harrouk. "Snøhetta Completes Powerhouse Brattørkaia" 05 Sep 2019. ArchDaily. Accessed 17 Sep 2019. <https://www.archdaily.com/924326/snohetta-completes-powerhouse-brattorkaia/> ISSN 0719-8884